Monkey in the Trees
by xpiester333x
Summary: From a prompt on tumblr: Nami's mikan trees got infected with bugs that damage them (don't know the English word for those right now, we call them something like leaf lice in German). The crew tries to help.


**Kyuunonana said:** " Nami's mikan trees got infected with bugs that damage them (don't know the English word for those right now, we call them something like leaf lice in German). The crew tries to help."

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><p>Nami stared at her mikan trees in horror. The leaves were in tatters, large pieces torn away from every one of them. They hung limp and unhappy from their branches, their usual vibrant green a duller, mustier color. The color of a dying tree.<p>

Nami gingerly touched one of the leaves. It fell from the tree on contact, fluttering down to land on the soil below. Just yesterday the trees had been fine. Nami had given them water and trimmed a few of the unhealthy branches away, but the trees had looked great. Today they were on the brink of death, and she didn't know how this had happened.

She leaned closer, meaning to check the bark for any signs of damage. She parted the leaves carefully, trying not to displace anymore, and came face to face with a hideous red and blue beetle.

Nami shrieked and jumped backwards, letting the weak branches of the tree slap back together and shower leaves down to the ground below. Bugs. She _hated_ bugs. They were disgusting. They had too many legs and too many eyes, and they moved too fast and…

And some of them hurt trees.

They must have picked the beetles up on the last island. That was the only explanation, because they had been at sea for three days and were too far from land for the bugs to have flown here. How hadn't Nami noticed sooner? She felt like a negligent parent. She tended to her trees every day, but somehow she hadn't noticed the little pests until now.

Until it was too late.

Nami moved over to a second tree. It hardly took her any time at all to find another one of those gross little things. This beetle was tearing its way through one of the leaves, cutting away from the already damaged green. These were definitely the culprits behind her damaged trees. But two beetles didn't do this much damage in one night.

Nami shuddered. She had an infestation.

"Nami-swan?" Sanji sang, leaning over her shoulder. "Is something the matter?"

"Sanji-kun," she whimpered. She couldn't even be mad about him violating her personal space right now. "Help."

She pointed to the destructive beetle, which had now successfully chopped the leaf into ribbons. If she acted quickly, she might be able to save her trees. Any more damage, however, and they'd be done for. Permanently.

"Oh," Sanji said. He swallowed nervously and backed away from her a few steps. "Is that a bug?"

"Yes," Nami said. "They're killing my trees."

"Oh… well. I—you see…" Sanji backed away a little more, eyeing the trees warily. Then an idea seemed to strike him. "Oi! You lazy bastards," Sanji shouted over his shoulder. "Come help Nami-swan."

Luffy was the first to arrive on the scene, his curiosity getting the better of him.

"What's wrong, Nami?" he asked, landing nimbly on the railing.

"My trees are infested with bugs," Nami said, pointing out the beetle that was now retreating back into the shade of the branches. "They're going to die if we don't do something."

"I could probably mix up an insecticide," Usopp said thoughtfully. "All natural, it wouldn't hurt the trees at all." He turned to look at Sanji. "If I can borrow some ingredients."

Sanji looked like he wanted to refuse. He hated to give away perfectly good food or spices in the name of Usopp's mystery concoctions, but one glance at Nami's teary eyes was enough to sway him.

"Whatever you need, longnose," he muttered.

"Thank you, Usopp," Nami said. "How long will it take to make?"

"About a day?" he guessed. "I'm not sure exactly how much of each ingredient to use, so it's going to take a little time to figure out."

Nami glanced at her trees. "I'm not sure they'll make it that long…"

"I'll get started right away," Usopp said making his way back down the steps and into his workshop.

"What should we do, Nami?" Chopper asked.

"I don't know," Nami said sadly. The trees that had weathered so much with them, had provided them food when supplies were low. The trees that reminded her of her home and her mother.

Chopper stepped forward and put his stethoscope against one of the tree trunks. He listened intently for a moment, then shook his head. "Sorry, I don't know how to make a tree feel better."

"It's okay, Chopper," Nami said, although it didn't feel okay. She didn't want Chopper to take it to heart though. "Hey, did you hear anything moving in there?"

Chopper placed the stethoscope against the trunk again. "Nope," he said. "It doesn't sound like anything."

"That means the beetles aren't inside the trunks, that's good," Nami said. "We just have to keep them away from the leaves."

"What's going on here?" Franky asked, pulling himself up the steps. Robin and Brook followed closely behind him.

"There's bugs in Nami's tree," Chopper explained. "We have to get them out."

"Oh my," Robin said, inspecting the branches herself. "They looked like they're almost dead."

"Thank you, Robin," Nami frowned.

"Ow! Sis!" Franky's hand moved, revealing the gun barrel in his wrist. "If you want, I can—"

"I'm trying _not_ to hurt my trees anymore, thank you," Nami said, pushing Franky's hand back on properly.

"Perhaps a nice ballad will clear them away?" Brook asked. He raised his violin and played a few notes. The notes seemed to tremble in the air and rattle through the leaves, but nothing happened.

"I don't think bugs have the same passion for music you do, Brook," Sanji said. "Oi! Shitty swordsman!" he called over the railing. "Get your ass up here and help."

"Get them yourself, shit cook," Zoro called back.

"No way! Make yourself useful!"

Zoro snorted. "That's right. I forgot you're scared."

Sanji sputtered and tried to come up with a retort, but Zoro was already up the stairs before Sanji could think of a response.

"Oi, Nami," Zoro said. He planted his feet and wrapped his hand around the hilt of his white sword. "I could put them out of their misery," he said, his eyes glinting menacingly.

Nami planted herself between his sword and her trees. "You. Will. Not," she said dangerously.

Zoro scoffed and dropped his stance. "I don't know what you expect me to do then."

"Perhaps we could pick them off?" Robin suggested. She closed her eyes and crossed her hands over her chest. A number of limbs sprouted over the trees, grabbing at air. Robin's brow furrowed in concentration, but to no avail.

"I can't see them to catch them," she admitted.

"Thanks for trying, Robin," Nami sighed, dejected. Her chances of saving her trees were diminishing by the second.

"Catch them?" Luffy said, his eyes landing on the trees. "Like a game?"

"Kind of?" Nami frowned. "I mean, we don't even know how many there are but—"

Before she could finish her sentence, one of his rubber limbs shot into the tree behind her, and the rest of his body followed. He landed in the branches with a thud. Leaves rained down, and Nami was just about to lecture Luffy for nearly killing her already dying tree, when a quiet _plink_ interrupted her.

Nami paused and looked down at the pail just below the trees. Inside, one nasty little bug was lying stunned at the bottom.

_Plink! Plink! Plink!_

Three more beetles were shot down into the pail from above in quick succession.

Nami parted the leaves and stuck her head in. In the tree, Luffy was plucking the beetles, one by one, and flicking them down into the pail below.

"Hey, Nami," he beamed. "This game is fun."

Nami was so happy she could have hugged him, had he not been holding one of those disgusting things.

"You're doing great, Luffy!" she smiled. "Tell you what, if you can fill that pail down there, we can have an all-you-can-eat meat buffet for dinner!"

"But Nami-swan—" Sanji started, but she silenced him with a glare over her shoulder.

"Meat!" Luffy wailed, and began plucking beetles double time.

Every _plink_ of a beetle body into the pail was music to her years. Luffy flicking them down with such force that the beetles didn't even have time to think of escape before they were bombarded by their brothers. Within ten minutes, Luffy had finished the first tree, and moved on to the next. At this rate, he'd have the beetles cleared before lunch time, and any stragglers he missed would be done in by Usopp's insecticide.

"Sanji-kun," she turned to him. "Start cooking the meat for today's meat buffet!" she cried cheerfully.

Her trees were going to be okay, and that called for a celebration.


End file.
